Developers, retailers flocking to Elmhurst

Elmhurst seems to be the city’s newest up-and-coming neighborhood. The attention the area is receiving from developers, however, is enlarging the price gap between new units and existing apartments.

“There’s a very significant divide between the quality of new homes versus existing homes in Elmhurst,” StreetEasy analyst Alan Lightfeldt told the New York Daily News. “In 2013, home sales in new development buildings sold for a 60 percent premium over resales of existing homes.”

One such new development is Queens Pointe at the former site of the St. John’s Hospital on Queens Boulevard, where developers Steve Wu and Harry Miller are converting the former medical facility into a 150-unit rental building.

Big-name retailers have long been acquainted with the Queens community. Macy’s, Target and Best Buy set up shop there long ago, the newspaper reported. As far as residential development goes, however, the neighborhood has long lagged behind Long Island City, Astoria and Flushing.

The median list price for an apartment in Elmhurst is up to $338,500 from $288,500 in 2011, according to StreetEasy data cited by the newspaper. Rent prices are up too. An average apartment in Elmhurst is $1,877 per month, compared to $1,350 per month in 2011. [NYDN] — Claire Moses